Christmas Eve. A surgeon, Turk, has been asked to work a 24 hour, overnight shift at the hospital because it is one of the busiest nights of the year for trauma and the emergency room. He tries to get some shut-eye in a bunk room for the doctors, and just as he lies down, his pager goes off and he gets up and rushes off to the ER. Some time later he comes back to the room to try to squeeze in 30 minutes of rest when again, his pager goes off just as he lies down, so up and out he goes. This cycle continues the entire night and he rushes out some 12 times throughout the night. After the final return, he slumps on the bed looking absolutely depressed and hopeless and tired.
-
At 6:30 Christmas morning, Carla, Turks wife, is waiting at home for him, so that they can go to church. Just then Turk walks in the door.
“Hey! You better hurry up, mass starts in fifteen minutes,” Carla says.
“I’m not going. I’m not going… ever,” and Turk goes into his room and shuts the door.
Read the rest of the entry »